Heaven open'd wide Her ever during gates, harmonious sound, On golden hinges moving.

Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.

Midnight brought on the dusky hour Friendliest to sleep and silence.

For such kind of borrowing as this, if it be not bettered by the borrowers, among good authors is accounted Plagiarè.

But peaceful was the night Wherein the Prince of Light His reign of peace upon the earth began.

What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support, That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men. 1 Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 22.

O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse Without all hope of day!